Page 4 of Gideon
As the rope moved between my fingers, the knots forming easily, twisting and turning by rote, I let my mind wander.
I thought about what life would be like, hopefully only a short time from now. Exploring the world, feeling the sea breeze in my hair as I moved from port to port, discovering new places and meeting new people. The entire world awaited us outside of this little corner of hell. I wanted to try new foods, experience new cultures, and see the world’s wonders. I had only traveled about an hour outside of Zion my entire life, and that simply wasn’t enough for me.
I didn’t really care if Naomi left with us or stayed here in Zion. That wasn’t any of my business. I was concerned about myself. I wanted something more in life than just marriage and babies and fucking church. I wanted it all. Everything this world had to offer.
But that wasn’t today. That wasn’t what I had to focus on. No, I needed to focus on my duty here in Zion, just for a little while longer. I knew my brothers expected me to join the Elders and keep up appearances until we could finally leave this place safely. Safety was key at this point. After Talia’s revelation — which had been one hell of a shock, to say the least — safety was paramount. Talia, Ruth, and Delilah had only been a part of our family for a short time, but they were family in the truest sense. My brothers had fallen in love with their wives, which meant I loved them as well. And you protect your family. End of story.
Naomi was now a part of that, whether or not she stayed in the end.
So I would do the right thing. I would man up and protect the woman I had just vowed to love for the rest of my life. The whole wedding may have been a sham, but the one vow I would keep was my promise to keep her safe.
That was tomorrow’s problem.
For tonight, I would tie this rope until my hands ached and my mind stopped spinning with tomorrow’s problems. They needed to stay firmly there, in tomorrow.
CHAPTER2
NAOMI
Everything inside of me told me to run; to leave this place and never look back. But it wasn’t that simple. I knew that. Down in the depths of my soul, I knew that if I were to run, they would find me. So I stayed put in this room. Gideon had not returned after he stalked out last night. I didn’t know where he had run off to, and honestly, I didn’t care. Not one bit. It was better for me that he was gone. I didn’t have to put up pretenses, pretending to be the perfect little Zion wife, when he was gone.
I had been a perfect picture of the happy bride yesterday. From the moment I had woken up, it had been chaos. My mother, if you could even call her that, had startled me awake with her screeching, yelling at me to get a move on if I wanted to come close to looking the part of a beautiful bride of Christ.
A bride of Christ. Gag me.
It was all bullshit, and yet, I had gotten out of bed and done everything required of me with a stupid smile plastered on my face. How they didn’t see through such a fake smile, I couldn’t fathom. The dress they had given me was a hand-me-down from one of my mother’s friends. It was pretty enough, not that I really cared. A simple gown with full sleeves and a sheer neckline that buttoned up clear to my neck. But, it wasn’t terrible. I had attended enough weddings here in Zion to know a hideous dress when I saw one.
My younger sisters had helped to style my hair. My long strawberry-blonde hair was a mess of waves that were neither curly nor straight. They were an all around pain in the ass most days. I kept it braided most of the time, which suited my mother just fine. However, for my wedding day, I was told to have it carefully and beautifully coiffed until I resembled more of a “Godly beauty”. Whatever the hell that meant.
Still, my sisters had managed to make it look tamed and pretty, for which I was grateful.
The wedding had gone off without a hitch. I knew it would be a mess, but the ceremony was lovely, at least. My new husband was handsome, though very quiet through most of it. When the Elders had escorted us down to the basement, I knew something twisted was coming, and I had been right. An inspection and consummation ceremony took place that had made my stomach roll in response. Still, I kept up the facade. I could have been an award-winning actress, so flawless was my performance. I even had the confidence to lean into the moment, touching my new husband and throwing out a few false, pleasured moans during the borderline-rape.
Those disgusting Elders had just sat back and watched like this was the most normal thing they had ever witnessed. I supposed I could believe it, though. They were the ones who put it into place, after all. They had concocted this whole thing like it was normal and not anything to balk at. Taking young couples, arranging their marriages and then watching them have sex. It was grotesque and child abuse. I couldn’t let myself think too long on the fact that half the girls here were married off well before their eighteenth birthdays. It was sickening.
I was grateful that I knew where I was. Who I was. I was smart enough to keep the mask I wore firmly in place so that no one knew what I was really thinking. Not a single one of them knew I was planning my escape from this hell on Earth. Hopefully, that plan would be much easier now that I was away from my parents. Of course, the fact that they had sold me off to a Temple brother made things a little more complicated than I would have liked. The Temple family was one of the most prestigious in town; a family I certainly did not want to cross. So I would have to be careful and cautious. I needed to find out more about my new husband in order to get away safely.
So far, I knew very little of the man. I hadn’t made it easy, locking him out of the bedroom last night, but who could blame me? I had worked hard to keep up the pretense of being the perfect Zion bride yesterday and I was exhausted. It took every ounce of energy I had to do it. But Ihaddone it, passed it off without a hitch.
I heard the front door open, pulling me back to the present. He was home.
I quickly sprang from the bed, opening my suitcase and finding clothing. It was barely past sunup. He was an early riser. That was good information to have.
His footsteps were heavy as he climbed the stairs, just in time for me to don my dress. He knocked firmly on the door. I took a deep breath to calm my pounding heart.
“Naomi?” he called out softly.
Breathe, Naomi. Just breathe.
“Yes?” I called out, silently cursing the way my voice croaked from lack of use so early in the morning.
“Would you like some breakfast?” he asked. His voice was kind and calm.
“Yes. I will be down to cook momentarily,” I answered as politely as I could. Time to face the music. I slid the mask back into place and unlocked the door.
“Good morning,” he greeted with a smile. Lord, the man was handsome. Far too handsome.
“Good morning,” I answered with my own smile. He led me down the stairs, holding his hand out for me. I was grateful for it. The stairs were a little too steep, unlike a traditionally built staircase, as though he had added the second floor as an afterthought.
